Tina laughed.I did a quick check down the frontof my sweaterand then proceeded to get mad.Was this someone's ideaof a joke?Was there some family secretsthat no one spoke of?Were those tiny black hairsappearing on my chin latelyjust a precursor to the hidden truth?

I immediately made a phone callto straighten out this crazy gender bender.

"Well, " they said, "if it is our mistakewe will correct it.If it's wrong on the original document,it will require a process-which usually takes about eight weeks-in order to make the necessary corrections.Plus- you will have to prove you're a woman."

At that point,I didn't know whether tolaugh or cry.

They said they could let me knowthe results of the original recordsin thirty minutes or so.

I waited.And waited.

My trip was already paid for ,(scheduled sooner than eight weeks)-and they certainly weren'tgonna let me get on that planeunless....well...let's be frank here-Unless I taped my tittiesand grew some balls.

I called my husband on his lunch hour."Honey", I said in my deepest voice,"Did you know you are married to a man?"Silence.Then, with total confusion in his voice,"What?"

I explained the situation-and as always, he was cool headedand told me they would probably get itall straightened out.

If not, he sure would havesome major explaining to doto all those macho guys at work.

Finally, the phone rangand the nice lady told methat it was their mistake.The original said FEMALE.And she put a revised copyin the mail to me.

Just a little scare.But enough to get me riled.

The best part of the wholecrazy situationis that my husband came homewith a big smile on his face.